Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Typhoon Krosa hit eastern China at 3:30 p.m. today, forcing local authorities to evacuate more than 1 million people and recall 69,300 vessels to harbors, before it weakened to a severe tropical storm.

Krosa landed between Cangnan in Zhejiang province and Fuding in the neighboring Fujian province, with winds of up to 119 kilometers (75 miles) per hour, the China Meteorological Administration said in an e-mailed statement. By 8 p.m., Krosa was centered about 80 kilometers southwest of Wenzhou city in Zhejiang and was losing strength, according to the Hong Kong Observatory's Web site.

Tourists were evacuated from Zhejiang and Fujian ahead of the arrival of Krosa, which coincided with the last day of a weeklong holiday in China. The storm, the 17th of the northwest Pacific cyclone season, swept across Taiwan yesterday, killing five people, injuring 53 and leaving one missing as of 9 a.m. today, Taiwan's Fire Agency said in a statement on its Web site.

Some areas of China's Zhejiang province had more than 250 millimeters (10 inches) of rain between 8 a.m. yesterday and 11 a.m. today because of Krosa, the local Department of Water Resources said in a statement.

Sightseeing Boats

Scenic areas on the Chinese coast were closed ahead of the storm's arrival, state-run Xinhua News Agency said, citing local authorities. More than 200 sightseeing boats, which usually carry at least 100,000 tourists a day during the holidays, also stayed in port, it added.

Wenzhou city in Zhejiang province canceled all flights today amid rainstorms, Xinhua said. A rehearsal for the closing ceremony for the Special Olympics in Shanghai was also postponed to Oct. 9 from tomorrow in anticipation of storm damage. Today's Formula 1 Grand Prix in the city went ahead without any weather problems.

The storm caused power blackouts around Wenzhou city, and dumped as much as 375 millimeters of rain on Cangnan, Xinhua said.

Krosa, then rated as a supertyphoon, hit Taiwan yesterday with wind speeds as high as 227 kilometers per hour, according to the island's Central Weather Bureau. More than 170,000 households on the island suffered power blackouts as a result of the storm, which also caused flooding in areas of Taipei. The storm was downgraded from a supertyphoon as winds eased.

Typhoon Longwang hit eastern China during the October holiday in 2005, triggering flash floods and a landslide and killing 85, Xinhua said.

Krosa is the Cambodian word for a species of crane, according to the Hong Kong Observatory's Web site.

To contact the reporters on this story: Li Yanping in Beijing at yli16@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 7, 2007 11:56 EDT